


Act 0: The Author Steps Out From Behind The Curtain

by sapphire2309



Series: GOLDENEYE [1]
Category: White Collar
Genre: May contain spoilers, Meta, Multi, Not!Fic, and also cause i need a place to keep my thoughts, and run on sentences, blather - Freeform, enter at your own risk, quite obviously:, this exists so that the fic itself doesn't have a giant fucking author's note
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 16:31:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12193560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire2309/pseuds/sapphire2309
Summary: Commentary on an upcoming story, which is part of a larger verse I've been brainstorming for a long time.





	Act 0: The Author Steps Out From Behind The Curtain

I created the Goldeneye'verse a long time ago. It was born out of a desire for a more dangerous, more morally corrupt Neal. My brain decided that this was IMPOSSIBLE with Mozzie there as a Chaotic Good influence on Neal's life, and then immediately came up with the question: what if Neal and Moz never met? What if their friendship was not allowed to be?

My brain immediately sketched out a tragic romance with Rachel and a partnership with Keller, to name just a couple of relatively unspoilery things. FWIW: My brain houses my muse, who breaks out her totally crazy steroid addiction at the strangest moments. Why do you do that, muse. (Could you at least share?)

So now, I have an entire LIFE COURSE sketched out for Neal starting from that moment (which i believe is the youngest we ever see Matt Bomer!Neal Caffrey on screen - i.e. not the child actor who played Neal in S4/5) when he bumps into Moz that first time in canon but then doesn't meet him for the second time right after (at least, not then. i have vague ideas for their second meeting in this verse, but nothing solid, and all quite far into the future.) And, because I fucking SUCK at longfic, it's all been in my brain for literally YEARS now. 

So, after this recent birthday, now that I've reached the reasonable and sedate age of 20 (i say reasonable and sedate but i really mean "relatively speaking"), I've decided that I'm going to start posting this fic in small, bite sized chunks, serially. Fair notice: I am a human being who is struggling with mental health things. I go into spoon shortage with very little notice. I mean, I can't make any promises, but I _will_ do my best to make sure that I don't leave you hanging from a cliff with Neal, especially because updates will be unpredictable, probably sporadic, and will depend entirely on what drugs my muse decides to take. I have no control over her, honestly. (Just to be clear, I do not procure or consume the drugs. My muse does. I have no clue how she is inside me and also enjoying drugs I've never tried, but honestly, she's a muse. Inside of me. What's surprising after that.)

I hope to have the prologue out by the end of the day, but again, no promises. And again, I'm doing my best.

I just want you to know this Neal like I do? I'm tired of holding him inside of me. 

Oooh, another thing: this verse focuses on Neal's life course, but a lot of life courses around his have been altered. (Most significantly for the near future, Rachel's been aged up, a lot. She's lived through the Cold War, she's paranoid, she's bitter. And also, a psychopath. Just saying. That hasn't changed.)

...I got distracted at some point, but what I'm trying to say is, I might take side trips into other characters' lives. This isn't going to be The Neal Caffrey Show. I mean, to start with, yes? But I've got so many interesting ideas for Moz, and Rachel, and Diana, and Lauren, and El, and, and, and.

This verse is never going to be complete lol.

Wikia says Neal's birth year is 1977, so that's what I'm going with to timestamp things in this 'verse, despite the fact that canon (Forging Bonds) says that Neal's arrival in New York was eight years before s2e11, which, counting the four years he spent in prison and also going by the fact that he ran away at 18 (assuming he came to New York soon after) makes little to no sense. 

I'm using a very loose version of the act-scene structure, which means that this fic will be sorted much like a stage play or a TV script, but will be written in plain ol' prose.

Inspiration was drawn from the Tina Turner song, but not the Bond movie associated with it. I mean, I may borrow from the Craig!Bond antihero aesthetic from time to time, which wouldn't make me the first person to compare Neal Caffrey to James Bonds, oops, Bond, but I haven't watched Goldeneye, and therefore can't possibly pay homage to it here. That song, though. That _song_.


End file.
